Improvement in links for steam-engines



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ZZLinesJes DANIEL A. WOODBURY, OF ROCHESTER, NEV YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN LINKS FOR STEAM-ENGINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 123,138, dated January 30, 1872.

SPECIFICATION. Be it known that I, DANIEL A. WoonBURY, of Rochester,inthe county of Monroe and State of New York, have invented certain Improvements in Links for Steam-Engines, of 'which the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is to provide a reversing-link for engines which shall be simple and cheap in construction and at the same time possess facilities for taking up the wear of the bearings; and it consists more particularly of conical bearings having wrist-pins iitted therein, in connection with means of adjusting and securing the adjustment of said pins. It also consists in a novel construction of the link-block and devices foradjusting the link upon it.

In the drawing, which is upon a scale of three inches to one foot, Figurel is a side elevation of my improved link and attachments. Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation of those portions to the left of the dotted line 00, fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the supporting-arm.

A, Figs. 1 and 2, is the link, made in the usual open form, to which are pivoted, at the proper points, the eccentric rods B and O. D is an arm having a hearing at its lower extremity upon a stud, a, fixed to the engine-bed, and is arranged to oscillate in the line of the reciprocation of the valve and eccentric rods. A threaded opening is provided in a boss at the upper end of this arm, parallel with the stud a,.into which the conical-headed wrist-pins b and c are screwed from opposite sides, as indicated. in Fig. 2. The pin 1) supports the linkblock E by fitting into a conical bearing therein, and the pin 0 performs a like function for the valve-connection F. The link moves vertically upon the block in the usual manner, and it is secured in the required position by the following arrangement of parts. An arm, (1, is formed upon the block, projecting over the face of the link. A slot, 0, is provided in the latter, having the same curve or sweep as the link, and a bolt, f, Fig. 2, moves in this slot and passes through an aperture in the arm 61 of the block. The hand-wheel or nut H, upon the outer end of the bolt, clamps the block and link firmly together. The outer extremity of the wrist-pins b and 0 are fitted to receive a wrench or screw-driver for the purpose of adjusting them when the bearings become worn, and in order to retain them after the adjustment is made the upper end of the arm is bifurcated, as shown in Fig. 3, and a screw, h, provided in it,'which acts to clamp the bifurcations about the pins. Thus it will be seen that if either or both pins be worn so as to be loose in the bearing, the clamp-screw h may be loosened, the pins-which are now free to be turned-screwed in till the conical part fills the bearing,a1 1d such adjustment again secured by the clamp-screw and bifurcated arm. A somewhat similar arrangement is applied to the eccentric-rod joints. The wrist-pins g i, Figs. 1 and 2, have a conical bearing in the link and are screwed into the rods B and O. A jam-nut, 0, secures the ad justment of the pins, which is made as before described.

The advantages of this method of compensating the wear are: That the construction of the parts is very simple and the adjustment easily made; that the operator is enabled to make a very nice adjustment of the bearings, the wrist pins being quite free when not clamped, whereby they may be so regulated as to exactly compensate the slack, but not bind or heat in the bearings, as is often the case with other devices for the same purpose. The same manipulation that adjusts the wristpin 11 in its bearing also takes up the wear of the block E in the link. The block is constructed in two parts, the plane of division passing through the axis of the wrist-pin, as indicated in Fig. 1 and it is obvious that the advance of the pin into its bearing also simultaneously presses the sections of the block against the internal faces of the link. The plane of division of the block is somewhatin olined with relation to its outer bearing-sun faces, for the purpose of facilitating the operation of fitting up, and a shoulder, at, is provided at a convenient point, so arranged that the weight of the link, which is supported by the arm d and clamp-screw, shall be equally transferred to both sections of the block, and thereby to the whole available surface of the pin 1). This is an important element in connection with the plan shown for adjusting the link, since if no such provision were made the whole weight of the link would be imposed upon that section of the block carrying the arm d.

It will be observed that in the arrangement of valve-rod and link herein shown and described it is preferable that the pins 1) and c be attached to the supporter D, opposite each other in the same axial line, but it may be desirable to use my device in many locations where the relative position of these parts is different, and hence other equivalent methods of supporting the link-block and clamping the wrist-pins may be adopted without afi'ecting the action of the parts for securing the requi site compensation in the bearings. It is obvious, also, that the arrangement of the bearing and the clamping device for the wrist-pins may be reversed, placing the bearing in the eccentric-rod and the clamping device on the link, the functions performed being the same in either case.

What I claim as my invention is 1. In combination with the link A, a divided link block, E, and conical supportingpin 1), whereby, when the latter is adjusted longitudinally, the slack in its own bearing, and also that between the block and link, is taken up simultaneously.

2. The bifurcated supporting-arm D,threaded to receive the pin or pins I) 0, and arranged to clamp them by means of the bolt h, when adjusted substantially as set forth.

5; In combination with an eccentric-rod, B or O, and link A, the conical wrist-pin g, screwed into either, the rod or the link, and a nut, 0, for clamping the pin when adjusted in its bearing, substantially as and for the purposes set forth. Witnesses: D. A. WOODBURY.

WM. A. MONTGOMERY, F. H. CLEMENT. 

